2017 Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation

The 2017 Louisiana Landmarks Society Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation will be presented and celebrated at a program and reception on Wednesday, April 12 at 5:30 pm at Ace Hotel in Barnett Hall at 600 Carondelet St., New Orleans, LA 70130.

These awards honor projects completed in Orleans Parish in 2016 which represent outstanding examples of restoration or rehabilitation of historic buildings. Here is a listing of the 2017 Award Recipients.

Once the largest furniture store in the south, this circa 1928 Art Deco building now is home to a lively downtown hotel, restaurant and bar scene. A four-story addition complements the historic construction, with materials such as a hand-made brick and cast stone. The project is punctuated with traditional New Orleans elements such as a carriageway and courtyard, balcony gardens, and an eclectic collection of interior materials and furnishings.

For decades, this five-story brick warehouse stood deteriorating in a sea of parking lots in the river-fronting upper section of the French Quarter. In the 1980s, its owner sought approval for its demolition. Constructed circa 1900 for the American Sugar Refining Company, this building today has been sensitively renovated into four residential units and a ground floor office space. Especially noteworthy are the restored original masonry vaulted ceilings.

The creation of a four-screen movie theater from a blighted 1924 Spanish Colonial style warehouse and an attached circa 1940 seafood processing factory has been revitalizing to the Mid-City and Treme neighborhoods, offering entertainment options to all walks of life. When the owner leased the older building in 2015, it had been essentially abandoned and blighted for nearly 10 years; and a non-original mezzanine cut across the front arcade windows.

This European-reminiscent hotel emerged from the rescue of two modest townhouses, tucked away in the Central Business District on quiet Union Street. In 2014 the derelict circa 1840 and 1923 buildings caught the eyes of the current owners. Using state and federal tax incentives, as well as credits derived through the Preservation Resource Center’s façade easement program, the owners crafted an intimate hotel experience, benefitting from the creative play of reclaimed materials.

Façade RENEW is a commercial business development grant program created in 2014 and spearheaded by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA). The program provides 3:1 reimbursable grants designed to incentivize commercial property and small business owners to preserve and revitalize their buildings. The program operates along four historic commercial corridors: Bayou Road, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, Old Gentilly Road and St. Claude Avenue. The program has made 38 awards.

After years of neglect, renovations have ensured Factors Row’s contribution to future generations of admirers. Primarily occupied by cotton merchants, the 1858 buildings make up the longest continuous grouping of Italianate commercial buildings in New Orleans and, though not the subject, were the physical location where Degas painted the Cotton Exchange. The project includes the adjacent building built in 1869 by architect Henry R. Thiberge as his offices.

In its 2010 New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites, Louisiana Landmarks Society included Felicity United Methodist Church as a threatened, abandoned church. This late (1888) Gothic Revival structure now has opened as a proprietary church welcoming all members of the community, following a major renovation including a new roof, brick repointing, and shoring. Closed and decommissioned in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina, the building had suffered from years of deferred maintenance.

Gallier Hall occupies an iconic place in the city’s history and contemporary cityscape. Designed in 1850 by noted architect James Gallier, Sr., this Greek revival masterpiece served as city hall for decades. In 1958 after the completion of New Orleans' present City Hall, Landmarks Society mounted a successful effort to keep the city from selling the old hall, and helped plan and execute its restoration. In 2014, a long section of marble cornice fell onto the granite stairs, signaling dire need for attention. With the assistance of varied professionals, the city undertook a major façade restoration, including stabilization, structural repairs and masonry cleaning.

The effects of time, climate, and nearly two centuries of use had taken a toll on these National Historic Landmarks. The brick and mortar had been severely eroded in several of the site’s structures; and in some areas, the structural integrity of the buildings had been compromised. With an interdisciplinary team, the museum launched a comprehensive effort to repair masonry, mortar, roofing and millwork. Importantly, a minimally-invasive climate control system was installed.

The Motorworks Building is a contemporary rehabilitation of a historic warehouse constructed in 1916 and used throughout the 1920s as an automobile showroom. The building has been rehabilitated into an apartment building that offers modern amenities while retaining historic fabric such as expansive “daylight” iron and wire glass windows, stained and polished concrete floors, industrial-style ductwork, exposed brick, and reclaimed wood re-purposed into stair treads and sliding wood doors.

The former Alcee Fortier School Building is a cornerstone of the Freret Street corridor. The building had fallen victim to deferred maintenance, water intrusion, termites, and age. The newly renewed building and its new occupant, Lusher Charter School, have brought revival to the corner of Freret and Nashville. While honoring the building’s history, the project sought energy efficiency and such upgrades as a new roof, elevator, HVAC, lighting, painting, and code requirements.

Formerly housing Hurwitz-Mintz Furniture Store, these two Chartres Street buildings were adapted for residential use, accommodating code requirements, new building services and a plan for access to natural light. The architects created twenty-five units, taking care to renovate the existing building including masonry and stucco repair, retention and repair of existing historic windows, and restoration of beadboard ceilings while introducing a contemporary language for the residential units.

Constructed under the Works Progress Administration program from 1933 to 1937, the former Milne Boys Home in Gentilly on Franklin Avenue occupied three Classical style buildings designed by the firm of Diboll & Owens. Damaged heavily during Hurricane Katrina, the original 1930s buildings have been restored, as well as a circa 1962 gymnasium. The 17-acre campus is now the home of The New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC).

Opening as an apartment building in 1927 and converting to a luxury hotel in the 1940s, the Pontchartrain Hotel has remained a beloved landmark. The recent project focused on the continuing exterior renovation and the addition of interior 21st-century amenities, revamped luxury suites, extended stay sprawls, as well as single and double guestrooms. The hotel renovation also brought back a revamped Caribbean Room, Bayou Bar and the Silver Whistle Café.

One in a row of three circa 1836 Creole style townhouses with out-buildings, 933 Burgundy has been given new life for a new owner. The masonry building has been repointed inside and out; a new natural slate roof with copper nails installed; new interior plaster applied; sagging floor joists corrected and the attic opened for a master bedroom-home office suite. The service building has been renovated as a guest apartment.

The second of prolific City Architect E.A. Christy’s many schools in New Orleans, Sophie Wright was built in 1912 in the Collegiate Gothic style as a school for girls on Napoleon Avenue at Prytania Street. The extensive project included a complete restoration of the building, which had fallen into a state of disrepair over the preceding decades, and the construction of a new high school gymnasium inserted into the original U‐shaped plan.

For several generations of New Orleanians, the derelict building at 1111 Gravier Street, known as the Rault Center, was remembered as the site of the tragic 1972 fire that claimed several lives. This event led to Louisiana becoming the first state to require that all high-rise buildings be sprinklered. In acknowledgment of this change in building codes, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, enabling its renovation.

Villa St. Maurice is an independent living facility in the Lower Ninth Ward. The project combined the historic rehabilitation of the Convent of the Perpetual Adoration, a late 1930s nun’s covenant house and orphanage, with new construction. This was a much-needed asset for Lower Nine residents, as it is the only such facility in the area, and a major development in the years since Hurricane Katrina so devastated the neighborhood.

Recent News

The Pitot House will be closed Saturday, March 2, 2019 due to the Krewe of Endymion parade scheduled in the neighborhood. We apologize for the inconvenience! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Mardi Gras.

About

The Louisiana Landmarks Society promotes historic preservation through education, advocacy, and operation of the Pitot House. The Pitot House is a site for exhibitions and educational programming that promotes LLS's preservation message.